


Soft tunes

by Starfate



Series: Healing hearts [2]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Closure, Fix-It, Fluff, Healing, Post End-game, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, only friendship, the ending we all deserved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:54:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23855710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starfate/pseuds/Starfate
Summary: "  ‘You are not staying,’ it was a statement, rather than a question.   "An alternative ending to end-game, in which Steve gets closure, but without his character being butchered.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Peggy Carter, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson
Series: Healing hearts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1703920
Kudos: 31





	Soft tunes

**Author's Note:**

> I loved end-game when I first saw it. There were of course multiple things I'd rather seen differently, but the way they treated Steve and Peggy is still really grinding my gears. 
> 
> So I decided to re-write Steve his ending and pretend that this is how it went down.

‘Don’t do anything stupid until I get back.’

Bucky rolled his eyes dramatically, but he was smiling.

‘How can I? You’re taking all the stupid with you.’ The words fell out of his mouth without thinking.

His mind was healed to a point were memories from before HYDRA came easily now. There was still the pain that accompanied many of them, but he was healing. Slow but steady.

Steve laughed as he pulled is oldest friend in for a crushing hug.

With a final check if all the stones were securely placed in the suitcase, he jumped up to the platform.

With a touch to the control pad on his wrist, his red blue and white suit got replaced with the time traveling white one.

‘How long is going to take?’ Sam asked Bruce.

‘For us? Five seconds. For him? As long as it takes.’

Steve picked up Mjölnir.

‘Meet you back here, yeah?’ Bruce asked distractedly as he punched some things into the control panel.

‘Meet you back.’

* * *

A countdown and a multicoloured flash later, he found himself on a rooftop.

All too familiar aliens were zipping about.

‘At least you are punctual.’ A woman with a bald head turned around to look at him. He could see the rush of relief as her eyes flitted down to the suitcase.

‘Well?’ She stretched out her hand expectantly.

He hurriedly unclasped it and The Ancient One floated the green time stone back into its medallion.

‘Better hurry along now,’ she said dismissively once the medallion was closed. She went right back to exploding alien airships.

‘Thank you,’ Steve felt the need to say. She had risked _everything_ by deciding to give Bruce the stone after all, and with that she had saved them all.

‘No, _thank you_.’ He could just barely hear her say, before he was whisked away to his next location.

* * *

Tired and more than slightly worse for wear, Steve stumbled into the last timeline. The alien planets had been intense. Seeing Asgard had been worth it though. Parting with Mjölnir had been harder than he had expected, he had gotten a little attached to it in the end.

After this, his work would be done.

He looked around the familiar army base with the familiar pang of melancholy, and quickly retreated into the shadows. Returning the tesseract was going to be a bit harder than getting it. They were now aware that something was wrong and they where looking for someone of his posture. 

Lucky for him, modern technology would take care of that.

Natasha had explained to him how the mask worked but he still struggled to get it on, especially the accompanying wig.

They had modelled the face after a file they had found in SHIELD’s old data banks, but the picture had been black and white, so he hoped it was accurate enough.

Dressed in an old timey suit, he had to agree with Tony that the tailored suits of their time were better than those in the seventies.

He pinned his clearance badge on his chest, took a deep breath, and marched on into the building. The elevator was luckily empty this time.

He nodded to people in the hallway and even had a small conversation with one man. He was glad he had memorised almost all personnel files.

Natasha would still laugh at his spy skills if she could see him right now, but he had definitely improved. There were a lot more security guards on the move now, but they walked past him without sparing him even a second glance.

In the end, returning the cube wasn’t much of a problem. They hadn’t yet found out it was missing and since Tony had already opened the box, he could just plop it right back in there.

Back on his way up he slipped into the same office as the last time.

He debated for a bit whether to take his mask off already or if that was too risky.

As it turned out, he wouldn’t have to make that decision himself as the door opened and the light in the office flickered on.

He turned around and came face to face with the woman he had lowered into the earth so many years ago.

‘Mr Bryant?’ Peggy frowned as she walked over to her desk, putting down the papers she had been holding. ‘What brings you to my office?’

Steve struggled to find anything to say. He had rehearsed what he wanted to say to her many, many times, but it had all flown straight out of his mind the moment he saw her.

Peggy’s frown deepened as he failed to answer, giving him a careful once over.

Before quickly pulling out a gun, ‘You’re not Mr Bryant.’. 

Her eyes flickered across the room, searching for any other potential threats.

‘No, I am not,’ he said softly, holding up his empty hands.

She started edging towards the exit, keeping the gun pointed on his heart. It would all be over if she called for help.

‘I promise you I have not come here to cause any harm.’ He lifted his hands a little higher, edging them closer to his face.

‘Why are you here then, and who are you?’ His reinsurance had done nothing to ease her grip on her gun.

Instead of answering he pressed the button above his ear, that deactivated his mask and voice mod. He slowly took of the mask and wig with one hand. 

‘It’s me Peggy.’

Her eyes widened for a second before narrowing into an icy glare.

‘Do not play games with me,’ her voice was dangerously low but he could see that her hands were slightly trembling.

‘I am not playing any games with you, it really is me. I know this is hard to believe, but I can explain, even if it might sound unbelievable.’ He looked at her pleadingly.

The trembling worsened, but her grip on the gun did not lessen one bit. 

‘You don’t really think that I could have left my best girl, when she still owes me a dance?’ He parroted the words he had said many years ago in the future.

‘Steve?’ Her voice was trembling now as well.

They talked for a long time, at one point moving from the SHIELD facility to a bar, where they sat in a secluded corner. Steve was very careful not to disclose anything that could alter the timeline. They had beat the impossible odds of winning against Thanos once, and he was not keen of spoiling that now. But even with the heavy censoring, there was so much left to talk about. Peggy as well, about the aftermath of the war, about mutual friends, about the forming of shield. About her life.

They talked for hours on end, before they both fell silent.

‘You are not staying,’ it was a statement, rather than a question.

‘No, I am not. It would endanger the timeline too much.’

‘Why did you risk coming back at all?’

‘When I got out of the ice, I was feeling lost in more ways than one, and I went to visit you. You had lived a good life. But you said that your only regret was, that I didn’t get to live mine.’ He took a shaky breath in and out, before continuing. ‘I know, more than anyone, how that feels. Sam calls it survivors’ guilt.’ He gave her a wry smile.

‘You also told me that sometimes the best we can do, is to start over. And I tried- I tried so hard Peggy. But I had too many lose ends I could never tie together, too many what ifs. I couldn’t help but wonder how my life would have been, had I returned from the war.’

She took his hand in hers, giving it a comforting squeeze.

‘It took me many years, but I have found my own place in the world now. I have friends that care for me and need me just as much as I need them. I have come to realise that I would be a man out of time, even if I returned here.’

‘The only regret I have left, was the pain I caused you and the dance we never got to have. That is why I returned. To give us both closure, so we can live our lives without any regrets.’

‘Oh Steve, you’re always so dramatic,’ she laughed, tears shining in her eyes.

They had their dance then.

The owner of the bar, humouring them, put on an old record.

They swayed on the music, holding each other tightly.

They did not talk, as everything they had wanted to say to each other, had already been said.

* * *

He came tumbling out onto the platform, at the agreed upon time.

The look of relieve on his friends faces, brought a smile to Steve’s face.

‘Everything went well, then?’ Sam asked, after giving him a once over.

‘Yes. All stones are back when they belong. It’s officially over.’

‘Let’s go celebrate then! Tony has invited us all to his house for a party.’ Bruce smiled, as he started to pack up the equipment together with Sam.

Bucky came to stand next to him, ‘I’m a bit disappointed you didn’t go with my plan to freak Sam out, not gonna lie.’

‘I think he will freak out more than enough when I give him the shield,’ Steve laughed, bumping his shoulder into Bucky’s.

War was over, and it was time to find out who he was without it. 


End file.
